Divisible carton



y 1954 F. A. KEELER 2,684,178

DIVISIBLE CARTON Filed Feb. 23, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N V EN TOR. fIEDE-Q/CK A. HEEL ER,

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IQTT'OENEY.

July 20, 1954 KEELER 2,684,178

DIVISIBLE CARTON Filed Feb. 25, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Z Tsozsezcz A. K551. E12,

Patented July 20, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates generally to the art of box construction and more particularly to the provision of a divisible carton having two sealed compartments, the entire carton being formed from a single sheet of cardboard, pasteboard or the like.

In the mechandising of individually packaged articles such as canned goods, individually wrapped bars of soap and bottled goods, it has long been observed that a carton which is economical from the standpoint of shipping and handling costs contains more items than the ultimate consumer is accustomed to buy at one purchase. It has been proposed in the past to facilitate the handling, shipment and sale of such in dividually packaged articles by the provision of a shipping carton containing, say, a dozen of the merchandized articles, and forming the carton in such a way as to permit the ultimate purchaser to buy a half-dozen articles in a separable container within the carton.

In order to facilitate such purchases of half the total qauntity, it is desirable that each half of the entire carton be a completely sealed compartment and that the two compartments be easily separated one from the other at the time of sale. I-Ieretofore small, individual packages or cartons (each made from a separate blank of material) have been packaged in large cartons or crates, but this is not an economical procedure. The increased cost of carton manufacture incident to the use of more than one blank has thus far prevented the wide use of divisible cartons containing sealed compartments.

Attempts have been made to form such divisible cartons from a single blank, but the cartons heretofore produced have used blanks irregular in outline and hence wasteful of material stock in manufacture.

Carton construction in accordance with my invention solves the above problems in a novel and efiicient manner and affords additional conveniences and advantages to be described hereinafter. I have devised a blank, substantially rectangular in outline, which may be slotted, cut and folded to form a rigid carton strong enough to withstand rough handling in shipment and storage (even when filled with heavy commodities such as canned fruit, vegetables, bottled beverages or the like) and yet easily severable into its component sealed containers when desired. Furthermore, a convenient carrying handle may be provided by unfastening two top flaps of the carton, thus permitting the purchaser to carry the complete carton if desired.

It is an object of my invention to disclose a novel divisible packing carton formed from a single sheet of packaging material.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a carton so formed as to be inherently stable and coherent in handling until optionally severed into its two component sealed compartments.

A further object of my invention is to provide a divisible carton having a centrally disposed carrying handle integrally formed therein, whereby the entire carton may be carried by the ultimate purchaser.

A still further object is to disclose a novel carton construction having, in one of its embodiments, a member to facilitate severing of the component compartments.

Another object is to provide such a carton formed from a blank having a substantially rectangular shape whereby wastage of material stock is minimized.

These and other objects of my invention will become clear from a study of the following description thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a carton embodying my invention showing the top, rear and a side.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a carton in accordance with my invention showing the bottom, front and a side.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1 showing the central flaps extended to form a carrying handle.

Fig. 4 is a semi-exploded view of a blank out, scored and folded to form a carbon in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the plane v-v of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1 showing the separate sealed compartments after severing.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a blank in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of a cartonincluding a severing member.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1 s wing a modified arrangement for closing the carton.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, a carton indicated generally at Hi includes two compartments H and i2. Carbon Iii includes a front wall I6, common to compartments H and i2, exterior or outer side walls ii and ll,

L rear walls l8 and i8, interior or inner side walls it and i9 and tabs and 20'.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, each successive wall lies in a plane perpendicular to the adjacent wall when the carton is assembled. Moreover, each wall includes top and bottom fiaps foldingly connected thereto and integral therewith, said top flaps being indicated by characters If! greater than the numbers assigned to their corresponding walls andzthe bottom flaps by characters 20' greater than the numbers assigned to their respective walls. Front wall It may have foldingly connected thereto two flaps and 25', separated by a slot ll formedbetween said two flaps.

As appears in Figs. e and '7, the carton is formed of a single blank of cardboard, oorrugated'paperboard, or the like having a substantially rectangular outline and it will be noted in the em bodiment illustrated that front panel I6 and its connected bottom flap 36 extend continuously across corresponding. portionsof both the compartments l l and #2. As best seen in Fig.2,this construction results, in the. assembled carton, in

the provision of two integrally connected, continuous, unscored, plane elements extending in mutually perpendicular planes, and it will thus be understood that compartments ii and [rare thereby inherently" held in. stable side-by-side relation. The carton can therefore be handled, stacked and moved as. an integral unit. without risk that the component sealed compartments will move relative to one another.

When it is desired to sever the two compartments fl and i2 from one another, front wall It andbottom flap maybe. out. along the parting line 42 indicated by a dotted line in Fig. 2.. In one embodiment of my invention parting, line 42 may be perforated: in order to facilitate. severing but at a slight sacrifice of the strength of the carton. In order to facilitate severing without impairing the strength of the carton, I may pro- 'vide a narrow, elongated severing member 43,

as shown in Fig. 8. Severing member 43 may be in the form of a string, a wire or thelike; and. is

arranged to extend along the inner surface of front wall It and bottom flap coincident with the transverse medial line 52 on which it is desired that the carton be severed. Severing member ift is preferably fastened to wall It and flap 36 as by glue or other suitable fastening means, and one of its ends extends outwardly of the. carton so that it may be manually grasped and pulled to sever the carton.

In order to facilitate carrying of the unsevered carton, I preferably provide in top flaps 29 and 29, excised openings 48. and 6%, large enough to admit the fingers of one hand. A particularly appears in Fig. 3, when top flaps 28 and 29 extend upwardly in the center of the carton I0, openings it and at register with each other to provide a convenient centrally disposed handle. It will be especially noted that when the handle is used, the weight of the contents of carton I9 is borne by inner side walls l9 and i9 transmitted directly from the bottoms of compartments I! and it through bottom flaps 39 and 39.

Bottom flaps 35, 31, 33 and 39 and their primed counterparts may be fastened together at their overlapping areas by adhesives, cement glue, staples orother fastening means well known in the art. Similarly top fiapsit, 2f, 28 and 29 may be so fastened, preferably allowing flap 29 to be somewhat less firmly fastened than the remaining top flaps in order to permit flaps 29 and 29 to be easily unfastened when desired to be used as a carrying handle. Tabs 26 and 2d are arranged to extend along the inner surface of front wall it and are fastened thereto by glue, staples or other suitable fastening means.

To withstand especially rugged handling I may provide three unscored members common to both compartments rather than only front wall (5 andv bottom flap 3% as previously described. As appears in Fig. 9, by first folding flaps 21 and 29 inwardly after filling the carton and by omitting the cutting of slot ll between top flaps 28 and 25, an integral top flap 24 may be formed extending across both compartments ii and i2. It will beseen that this construction affords added. strength to the carton by reason of the fact that three unbroken members extend across corresponding areas of each of the compartments II and 12, one of the members lying in a plane perpendicular to: the planes of the other two.

Thus it can be seen that I have provided a novel carton having two sealed compartments Which is easily severable into its two components and which is formed from a single sheet of material. Moreover, it will be noted by reference to Fig. 7- that the blank may be formed with a minimum of wasted material and with only two-longitudinal folds. The blank is therefore adapted to be economically formed by automatic boxing machines conventionally used.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes may be made from the specific embodiments illustrated and'described. For instance, tabs 29 and 2% may extend completely across the width of each of the compartments i l and 52 instead of only partially as shown, andby this means exactly rectangular compartments areprovided if desired. It will be seen that although I have described my carton as including two identical. compartments symmetrically disposed with respect to a medial plane, the compartments: need not have the" same size solong as their juxtaposed inner side walls are substantially the same length. It will be noted that severing of the component halves may be accomplished by the use of a cutting'instrument, such as a knife or the like, and in the-case of cartons fabricated of relatively thin cardboard or pasteboard they may be severed manually. without the use of a tool;

Allzchanges and-modifications within the spirit of my invention are included in the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A. divisible carton having a pair of compartments formed froma single substantially rectangular' sheet comprising: an integral, plane front wall constituting the front walls of both said compartments, said integral front wall having foldingly connected thereto an integral bottom flap extending longitudinally beneath both compartments and. a pair of topflaps; an exterior side wall foldingly connected to each end of said integral front wall including a foldable top flap and foldable bottom flap; a rear wall for each compartment opposing substantially one-half of said integral front wall, each of said rear walls being foldingly connected to-one of said side walls and having top and bottom flaps foldingly connected thereto; and interior side wall for each compartment foldingly connected to each of said rear walls andhaving top and bottom flaps foldingly connected thereto, the top flap foldingly connectedto each of said interior sidewalls being provided with an excised opening, said openings being arranged to register with each other when their flaps are extended upwardly from the carton whereby to aiford a centrally disposed carrying handle for the carton; and a tab foldingly extending from each of said interior side walls, said tab arranged to lie adjacent the inner surface of said integral front wall and to be fastened thereto, the bottom flaps of outer and inner side walls of each compartment being fastened to the common bottom flap of the integral front wall, said walls and flaps being rectangular, all said top flaps having a common width and all said bottom flaps having a common width.

2. A divisible carton having two parallelepipedal compartments and formed from a single blank or sheet material comprising: rectangular front, outer side, rear and inner side walls for each compartment formed of sequential portions of said blank, the inner side wall of one compartment and the inner side wall of the other compartment lying in parallel juxtaposition; and rectangular top and bottom flaps foldingly connected to said walls for forming a top and a bottom for each compartment, said top flaps having a common width transverse of said blank and said bottom flaps having a common width transverse of said blank, the top flaps connected to said juxtaposed inner walls having excised openings formed therein so disposed as to register when their flaps are juxtaposed in upward extension from the carton whereby to provide a carrying handle for the carton.

3. A substantially rectangular blank of sheet material for forming a divisible carton having two compartments comprising: a rectangular central integral panel bounded by four rectilinear scores and constituting a front wall for both compartments, said panel having top and bottom flaps foldably connected thereto along a pair of opposed scores thereof; two rectangular exterior side wall panels, each foldably connected to said central panel along one of the remaining two scores thereof and having top and bottom flaps foldably connected thereto along scores perpendicular to the scored junctures with said central panel; a rectangular rear wall panel foldably connected to each of said side wall panels and having top and bottom flaps foldably connected thereto; two rectangular interior side wall panels, each foldably connected to one of said rear wall panels and having top and bottom flaps foldably connected thereto, all said flaps being rectangular; and a tab foldably connected to each of said interior side wall panels, all of said flaps extending equidistantly from their foldable lines of juncture with their respective panels, each of the top flaps connected to said interior side wall panels being provided with an excised opening, said openings being disposed symmetrically with respect to the transverse medial line of said central panel.

4. A rigid carton divisible into two sealed compartments, each provided with rectangular side, rear and front walls, a top and a bottom, said divisible carton being formed from a single, substantially rectangular sheet having a pair of longitudinal fold lines extending the entire length of said sheet, comprising a front wall panel portion common to adjoining front walls of adjacent compartments, each of the vertical margins of the common front wall panel being provided with a multi-panel extension folded to form the outer side, rear and inner side walls of a compartment and a terminal tab fastened to the inner surface of the front wall panel, the terminal tabs of said extensions being fastened to the front Wall panel in adjacent relation; rectangular top and bottom flap extensions foldingly connected to upper and lower margins of each of the wall portions of each multi-panel extension and arranged to form a top and a bottom for each of the compartments, and a single rectangular flap foldingly connected to the lower margin of the front wall panel portion and fastened to said bottom, said single flap cooperating with the front wall panel portion to normally hold both compartments in stable, sideby-side relation, said top flap extensions having a common width and said flap and bottom flap extension having a common width, each of the top flap extensions carried by said inner side walls being provided with an excised opening, said openings being arranged to register with each other when their flaps are extended upwardly from the carton whereby to afford a centrally disposed carrying handle for the carton.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,682,838 Fergelman Sept. 4, 1928 1,726,108 Hughes Aug. 27, 1929 2,327,529 Kieckhefer Aug. 24, 1943 2,359,986 Grecco Oct. 10, 1944 2,448,795 Grecco Sept. 7, 1948 2,472,674 Morand June 7, 1949 

